


Taming the Beast

by theartofdreaming



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartofdreaming/pseuds/theartofdreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bloodcurdling scream next door startles Barry awake from his well-earned slumber. Rushing over to help, he learns<br/>1) that his neighbor is ridiculously pretty<br/>and<br/>2) that even though the situation is not quite what he expected, the threat is real (and hairy and eight-legged).</p>
<p>Basically, this is a mishmash of the prompt “I know we’ve never talked before but there is a friggin huge spider in my apartment can you kill it for me” AU and “I live next door and I heard screaming so I came over thinking someone was getting murdered and now we’re both trying to get the spider out of your apartment” AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taming the Beast

“Ow... Ow... Ow,” Barry groaned to himself, while climbing up the stairs to his apartment on the third floor – _**why was he living in an apartment on the third floor in a building without an elevator again**_?

“I'm never, ever gonna do anything for Cisco again, ever,” he muttered under his breath vigoriously, huffing with every step he was taking.

Barry had just returned from helping Cisco move into his new apartment (that was on the fourth floor and although the building had an elevator, the lift had been out of order, naturally). And between him, Cisco and Caitlin, Barry suddenly had been assigned the 'muscle man' of the group... That alone was sad enough (unfortunately, Caitlin's fiancé – Ronnie – was in Pittsburgh due to work; he definitely rather qualified as the 'muscle'-part of the group than the lanky forensic scientist), but now Barry's arms and legs also hurt as hell. After a lot of whining and cursing to himself, he finally arrived at his apartment door and – after making a lot of fuzz over the mere fact that he had to lift his arm enough to put the key into the lock – shuffled to his couch to collapse right onto it, not even bothering to close the door.

“I'm never gonna get up from here. Ever,” he growled into a pillow, eyes shut tight.

He was already dozing off – when suddenly a high-pitched scream coming from the apartment next door disrupted the silence, causing Barry to flinch so much that he fell off the sofa, bumping his elbow on the coffee table in the process.

“Oh shit,” he moaned, then – after he'd realized what had startled him out of his slumber in the first place – Barry dashed out of his apartment.

The front door next to his was ajar – not a good sign – and Barry barged in, fearing the worst.

The room was a mess: a knocked over paper bin laid on the floor, its content scattered everywhere, along with a bunch of keys.

“Thank god, please save me” a strained voice sounded from Barry's left. He turned his head to see his neighbor, a beautiful young woman around his age, who was standing on a shoe rack, pressed against the wall.

_**Was it just him or was this situation actually pretty strange?**_ Barry could not detect anything threatening in the apartment.

“Save you from wha-?” And just as the words were leaving his mouth, a gigantic, black and hairy spider crawled up from under one of the sheets of paper.

“Holy – !!!” Barry gasped, leaping unto the shoe rack as well, while his neighbor let out a tiny screech.

The spider disappeared under an empty cardboard box of macaroni and cheese and a stack of papers.

“This thing is huge!” Barry panted, eyes trained on the mac'n'cheese box.

“I know, right?! I just wanted to take out the wastepaper and – there it was!” The woman next to him whimpered, tightening the grip on his arm.

_**Wait.** _

Barry only now became aware that she was clinging to his arm, probably to keep him from falling off the rack (that also made suspicious creaky noises whenever one of them moved). He didn't even know her, aside from her last name. _**West.**_

“Ehm... I'm Barry, by the way... Allen,” Barry stuttered, flushing bright red.

His neighbor loosened her grasp, also blushing. “Iris West.” She gave him a nervous smile, and dang, her smile was pretty.

“I'm sorry for that scream earlier,” Iris apologized, realizing why he must have dashed into her apartment.

“I thought someone was going to be murdered or something like that... but, under the circumstances,” Barry tossed an wary glance towards the cardboard box, “I can understand.”

As if to make a point, the spider appeared again, darting closer to the two adults. Both squeaked in terror.

“I don't suppose that you could get rid of it for me?” Iris asked doubtfully, Barry's high-pitched squeal still ringing in her ears.

The young man turned crimson, rubbing his neck nervously, causing the shoe rack to creak again. The spider crawled a couple of inches away from them.

Barry's eyes flitted to the paper bin.

“We could try putting the bin over the spider.”

Iris's eyes went wide: “Could you actually reach it?” Barry could feel Iris's glance on him, eyeing his long limbs.

“It's worth a try... otherwise, we're gonna be here for a very long time, I'm afraid,” the scientist said jokingly (although he had that nagging feeling that it wasn't so much a joke but rather the truth).

Iris nodded. “Okay, go.”

* * *

It took them nearly ten minutes to get that stupid paper bin and capture the spider (even though Barry's arms were long, they weren't long enough to just grab the bin; in the end Iris had to latch onto Barry's other arm for counterbalance – one time, the spider had moved just while they were trying to retrieve the wastepaper basket, which had almost resulted in Barry toppling head first to the floor if it hadn't been for Iris's quick reflexes).

“Yes, we did it!” Iris triumphed, stacking some incredibly thick books on top of the 'spider-prison'.

Barry just grinned, too exhausted to say anything.

“I owe you one. Big time,” Iris declared, genuinely thankful.

“It's okay, really... just a little neighborly help,” Barry shrugged, then quickly stopped. _**Ow, that hurt, too.**_

“It was more than just a little help! You saved me from a vicious beast! That's gotta earn you something,” Iris objected, furrowing her eyebrows in contemplation. “How about a home cooked dinner?” She proposed, smiling up up at him warmly, “I'm no culinary mastermind, but I can cook a mean lasagna... and my brownies are awesome, so dessert is safe.”

Barry couldn't help but laugh at that.

“I think that would qualify as an adequate compensation.”

**Fin.**

 


End file.
